RideScout, a real-time transportation aggregator in app form, has soft launched in the District and is planning an official launch November 20. The app, which puts the choice of getting from A to B by bus, train, car, bike or rideshare at the touch of a button, is already working with
RidePost,
SideCar,
Car2go and
DC Pedicab and is in talks to partner with several e-hail apps.
"
Transportation in the City showed us why we need RideScout," explains Craig Cummings, cofounder of RideScout. "It's starting to get confusing with all of the options that are out there."
RideScout's algorithm uses data from public bus and rail systems in more than two hundred U.S. cities along with partner data streams to give users a bird's-eye view of all transportation options currently available. Users can also book rides from within the app, saving themselves time and clicks.
Joseph Kopser, who cofounded RideScout with Cummings, says that the idea for the app came from his living in nine different cities and having to cope with commuting. "There are lots of options," Kopser explains, "but you have to commit to an option way in advance." In the past, you "couldn't call up all your options on demand."
Kopser and Cummings, who both taught at West Point and served together, say that their military background has informed their business practices. "We learned a work ethic that our investors love," Kopser says. "They know we love to stay up late, get up early, and find legal, ethical and moral ways to get around obstacles. And our customers are now seeing that, too."
"We've been defenders of the American dream of business ownership," adds Cummings. "Now we want to [own one]."
RideScout is available on iOS and Android. The company will be hiring as it scales, possibly in November and January, and may raise Series A capital in 2014.